New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-03-06
GENERAL LEE.
A CONFEDERATE HISTORY.

and Chief OF Artillery Second Corps Army Oh W H.
Virginia Together with Incidents Relatng 10 his
Private Life subsequent 10 tne muI Rrisadier.
edited by MAEcUs + WRIGHT sTo pp ~ j.
stodlart & Co.
General Long has made no sensational DISCLOSURES
which will require us TO review accepted Neruio'S
but he has written an interesting military nara
hive DISTINGUISHED in general by candid and
manly spirit. 1t is by Ms persistent assurance
of the superior courage, endurance, PATRIOTISM
md devotion Of the Southern soldier compared
with his Northern antagonist that he Is hos'
Nhe,v To proyoke criticism The vlctors' ho"
ever will not be over quick to take ohchc' aV ''.
nride 81 the Confederate soldier In MS s"i,"ho
comrades who so long maintained h5h0 aeD
heavy odds, and won nearly ah '"o,, =,
AGAINST superior forces ana uicy wiz Ho0
c,,,dce General Lee PARTICLE OF ms i"iie o' i-0
ber, OF some of the most remaIRaoie uciene
s,.i,,ns in modern times. The alleged us
pa,itv OF numbers between the fedeidi anu O'if
saaarate troops in the principal engagements nus
49,, tho subject Of q great deal OF controversy
ond General Long, whose statements arc pronao'y
oytreme does nothing to settle it. difference
IN tho Federal and Confederate methods OF reck'
nnino md making Out returns accounts Tor part
NJ the discrepancy General Long quotes Lee as
saving. in reply to an inquiry by General Meaoc
after the surrender that at no time ourlf~ ene
Gna, oncratiors about petersburg and Richmond
ala the force under his command exceed oo'ooo
men-wbich was about half Meades eSlin"'e
Rut Lees last official report during lhao cam
paipn gives his aggregate sblensth us ''''f'
present, O,411 present and absent on t''c ~O'i
of February. 1865. The number SURRENDERED "O
A,r,mottox is generally said by Confederate MS
,or;ans no have been only 10000 Inc paioie
rolls however, given by General Long, Ioot up
os oa1 The fact is that about hait Ices army
inc,uding the whole Of EwelPs corps, was cap
tured n day or two before lhe suiIchuo, 50
that General Longs statement that lhe nshV VI
the Confederacy was maintained Until the army
exclusive of straggleTs and eXtra-duty hien' was
reduced to O, 600, must be taken "luh important
qualifications The 10000 who lmd GOWN ei'oH
arms were only the fractional remainder Vi al
army which began to dispose as soon us l'ichinoiiu
was evacuated. .-t,,
during the Peninsula campaign anu ihu'.u ."
times seems to be agreed by both SIDES. Leu
,,nao,stood this failing and counted upon H. as
Iohpeton had previously done when he confronted
Mcclellan at Manassas and CentreVlle. Al"
C1euan,s constant calls for relnforcemehls "ele
,,ou known at Richmond, and Lee was ehcour-
oced by his adversary's obvious uneaSihess "
make that bold movement against lhe reuoi''
r,obt which forced Mcclellan to retreat IVln 'iio
Cbiclxabominy to the James, separated Ulie Army
~ the p tomac from Mcdowell, and LED 70 'nc
abandonment Of the Peninsula, The fouu u i0po'
and the invasion of Maryland Lees supeliorIS
"a his enemy in this campaign coulo h'iu9 ~
questioned A curious incident Vi 'ho 80
novs 6rbb is related by General Long, winch
shows that Lee, like our own generals '' ~
always count upon the cooperation even oil HIS
1T ,eutenonfs when he had most reason TO en-
rect IT, After Summers splendid stand had en-
ahlad Mcclellan to get his main BODY across tio
White Oak Swamp, Lee, with LOnSslieeU anu ~
u uiu male q determined attack upon uhe HUNK
Of the retreatiny army. while jackson was oiu'ieu
to fall upon its rear. Lee IoushV VII hi9nO ODV
Jackson did not support him and McOlel"h was
oroh,ed to nush on to Malvern Hill. 1t turned
ont that jackson was asleep, and his slaI' ouU
Of mistaken sympathy, did not wake nm
The invasion of Maryland Is admitted 10 nave
been bad failure. Lee expected important POI
Hticol results from rising Of the people oil Uhc
State as soon as he appeared among lhcln' o"'
nothing Of the kind took place.
Antietam is described as drawn Datte' WHICH
technically it, undoubtedly Lee however,
exnected a renewal of the attack, ana was IT.
Eeved when he found that General Mcclellan
meant to wait for fresh troops. "foleseelhs 'haV
no impo,tant results could be achieved Dy
second battle with McClelan's augmented forces
and being unwilling TO sacrifice unnecessarily ni'
Gallant men, lie thereupon recrossed the fVOoila0'
The net result of the campaign was TO destroy
GREAT deal of the pesti.e which the Cohleueru'c'
had won ON the Peninsula and at Bun Run, and
70 bcartcn tie Northern people, who were much IN
want of encouragement lee is reported TO have
said that he considered Mcclellan the ablest, by
au odds of the Union generals but as we are
not t,ld when this remark was made we 90 not
know with what Union generals The comparison
was made General Long moreover observes
that this opinion could but have referred TO HIS
NIcClellan's) skill Us a tactclan' as IL Il ul-
questionable that Lee awaited himself OF NC
Clellan's oyer-cauton and essayed perllous move
mcnts which he could not have saleiy 'ehtIeu
IN the presence Of a more active opponent.
The most obvious criticism uIon General Long
story Of the battles of Fredericksburg and Chan
.ouorevilo is That he makes too little account Of
Tho blunders of the Federal commanders. Accord
mo tn most of the authorities on our SIDE, Lee
ouabt 10 divide the credit Of his success on those
bloody fields with Burnside and hooker. ueher"
Long reflects upon Franklin for the inactivity u
his grand division at Fredericksburg, winch nc
saws was the cause Of considerable surprise 10 lhe
Copfcderates but it is now well known tha1
Franklin was kept idle by one OF Durhsloes
unfortunate oders Lees general order congratu-
lating his army on the victory declared thao Burn
side had been beaten and "hurled back" by less
than 10000 Confederates. General Long gives
the effective strength of the Southern army as
"about 10000; but the returns printed IN his
appendix show that even this is an understa'e-
ment The aggregate present ut Frederlcks-
burg is officially given as 10000, and the pres
ent for duty as $4,000. There was no great dlf-
ference therefore between the two armies; puU
of course on neither side were all the troops en-
gagged.
The choice OF Gettysburg as battlefield Is
sometimes spoken Of as an accident but from the
outset Lee contemplated fighting just there. Two
weeks before he began his march northward he
explained his plan of campaign to General Long.
Inv adinZ rcnnsy he might be forced to give